Dadi Ki Rasoi

Meals For INR 5?! This Noida Man Serves Them & His Rajma Rice Type Lunch Sells Out In 2 Hours!

Shortcut

We met Anoop Khanna standing under a tree on a sweltering summer day, serving lunch to everyone for INR 5. His initiative, Dadi Ki Rasoi, is a small kiosk in Ganga Complex {Sector 29, Noida} where home cooked meals in desi ghee are served with a smile.

Dadi, Dadi Cool

Dadi Ki Rasoi started because Anoop’s mummy ji was super upset when her stomach ailment stopped her from eating everything she loved. She suggested {in her typical sweet dadi fashion, of course} that her share of good food be given to the needy. So, this community kitchen was the realisation of her last wish. It’s been around for almost three years, and it’s still going strong.
Call it divine intervention or just humanity, people started to come forward to make little contributions to dadi’s cause. The day we visited, there was watermelon and rasgullas to end the meal too; thanks to someone pitching in for dessert. In fact, another natural extension of these everyday meals was a shop in the opposite complex where people can pick up pre-loved clothes at a mere INR 10, and generic medicines at a subsidised price.
The greatest thing about this rasoi is the spirit uncle Anoop embodies. He runs a laughter club in the morning, supervises all the khaana getting made after {they are one of the handful few to even get an FSSAI certification!} and then literally hits the road with drums full of rajma/dal/chana and rice. You can find him opposite Verma Salon from noon to 2pm every day and the menu changes between lobhia, paneer, soya and a very wholesome khichdi on Sundays.

Uncle's Kitchen, Uncle's Rules

“We’ve heard everyone say that beggars can’t be choosers but here, we want to prove that wrong. Even a daily wager with INR 10 should be able to pick from a shelf full of clothes,” says Anoop. This leads us to wonder why he charges for food and supplies at all. His answer is very simple: “No one likes charity and we want everyone to earn that meal,” he adds.
From cops to nearby shop owners, office goers, school children, construction workers, tired maalis… Everyone makes a beeline for Dadi Ki Rasoi. Anoop exercises tremendous crowd control, and makes sure everyone sticks to the queue and waits patiently, because hey, this restores a sense of order to an otherwise solely-led-by-heart business model.
We asked Khanna uncle what was next, and he told us he’d have a new rule in place very soon: “Only two-wheeler riders will get food here. You see, I can use this as an opportunity to further a bigger cause through my business, and I don’t see a reason to not do it,” he laughs.

So, We're Saying...

Make a pit stop if you’re in the area, and feel the goodness that emanates from this project. In fact, we know a lot of people we could point in the general direction of this second-hand clothes shop that recently got a hand-me-down wedding lehenga that’ll now be on rent.